Climbing the Tower
by Crimson Reaper Ragna
Summary: Tribute to Catherine and Disgaea 1-4. I don't own either games, both belong to ATLUS and NIS/NIS America... yada yada yada... pairings include MaoxBeryl, LaharlxFlonne, AdellxRozy, ValzyxArtina, MaoxOC and of course, AlmazxSapphire. also some hints of LaharlxEtna and . On hiatus until further notice.
1. Prologue EDIT

Climbing the Tower

By Shunto

I do not own _**Catherine**_ nor do I own the _**Disgaea**_ series. Both belong to their rightful owners, ATLUS and NIS/NIS America, respectively.

Prologue (EDITED)

Mao heard the bell ringing. Once again, he would just write down his name in that book, enter the confessional, answer a question, and then climb another tower.

The questions were always relating to his life, mainly his girlfriend, Raspberyl, and that new, creepy, beautiful girl that tore his life apart: Raspberel. He always answered relating to his true love and feelings, and every time that feminine voice would mock him. Every time, the confessional would rocket into the air, sending him to another deathtrap of a tower. Every time he climbed it successfully, grasping the rope and went to another landing.

He was afraid now. Not because he was about to face the bastard that put him in this hellhole, but because he made a deal with him.

A deal signed on a contract of the damned.

A deal that would either let him and other people live, or him and so many others die.

A deal signed at midnight.

A deal… signed in blood.

He went to the next confessional. Entering it, and sitting down before that annoying voice yelled at him, he focused. And the voice appeared for what would be the final time.

"Hello, Man of Legend. You've sure come a long way."

Mao snickered and replied, "Yeah. As soon as I'm done with Mutton, I'm outta here! Now hurry up with that damned question."

The voice sighed and two ropes dropped down. The small boxed-in room grew dark, and Mao listened as the familiar deep voice filled the confessional.

_"Are you ready to sacrifice everything to get back your lover?"_

__Two ropes shot down, one with a cloth with "I'm ready," written on it, the other reading "Well, maybe not everything..."

He thought carefully on this; to surrender everything would be giving up his freedoms, his current way of life... but for what? Right now, he was single; both his girlfriend and the succubus dumped him, and he needed something. But what was it? He shook his head and reached up.

He pulled a rope, and they shot back up.

The feminine voice filled the small room.

"I see…"

Mao was pushed over the edge. The voice was speaking in freaken riddles! What the hell was this!

"Meh. Oh well. You're gonna go to the final trial now, okay sweetie? Nighty night, 'Man of Legend!' See you tomorrow… maybe!"

The confessional blasted off to the final tower of Astaroth. This is it, Mao thought. I promise I'll win.

End of Prologue

Sorry for the sudden edit, I just was not happy with the first chapter. Anyway, it'll be like this for the rest of the fanfic: At the end of each chapter (starting with 3), I'll ask for a review, such as what texts did Mao send, what answer did he pick, who did he help, ect...

Night all!


	2. The first ascent

Climbing the Tower

By Shunto

Don't own anything… wish I did… property of ATLUS and NIS/NIS America for Catherine and Disgaea, obviously…

Chapter One

Mao sat on the small bench in his confessional. It was taking a little longer than usual, but nothing big right? He wondered about that. He took this time to think back to how all this tower climbing shit began. About 8 days ago, he thought, Beryl and I were eating at the VIP Room in the Café…

"…and then I gave him a smack over the head!" Beryl said. Mao looked up and snickered. "Serves that sleazy jerk right. Trying to hit on you like that… wow!" Beryl smiled and waited a few moments as Mao rubbed some sleep out of his left eye. "You okay?" she asked. Mao looked up and nodded. "Yeah… (yawn) I was just doing a lot of paperwork last night. Must be catching up." Beryl smiled and with that, three and a half hours later, Mao went to sleep.

Mao wandered through that dark room for what seemed like forever, until reaching a door. Opening it, he saw a tower of blocks so high, he'd' snap his neck by looking that high.

"I-I-I'M FALLLLINGGG!"

Mao looked to the west and saw… a sheep? He looked again and the sheep appeared to be wearing a bracelet and he was plummeting to his death. Mao looked down, but there was nothing to see. Just darkness. Then, a rumble, and the third layer of blocks from him fell to nothingness. Mao looked speechless. He was scared beyond belief. He ran to the first block and climbed it.

The higher Mao got, the safer he felt. Until he saw that one block was out of reach. Mao was, once again, scared speechless. He pulled out a block, without thinking, and much to his surprise, it slid out easily. He grinned and pushed it to make a stepping stone.

From then on, it was the same pattern. Climb blocks, push blocks, make tower, climb, survive. He lost track of time, until he heard… a bell? Looking up, he saw a door. He didn't care if it was death or not: that door was his only chance. Without thinking he ascended a few more blocks and pushed open the door, ran inside, and it shut loudly.

Mao's eyes were strained. He was sweating. Then he awoke. He was back in his room. His dorm…

His home. The nightmare was over, he thought. Just a bad dream.

He could not be farther from the truth.

END OF CHAPTER ONE


	3. Choices BEGIN! Reviews decide outcome!

Climbing The Tower

By Shunto

Yo guys! Good news! I've started up my _Catherine _file again, and cleared the first night, no problems at all! So I've finally remembered what happened after the first night is cleared, and I will waste no time getting it down on a word doc.

But enough with the intro! ON WITH THE FIC!

Note: * indicates an OC. Sorry for not mentioning this earlier.

DISCLAIMER (Please read!)

_I do not, under absolutely no circumstances whatsoever, own either _Catherine,_ nor do I own the _Disgaea _franchise. They are the respective properties of ATLUS and NIS/NIS America, respectively._

_Fun Fact: both companies made the original Disgaea for the PS2. When Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories and Afternoon of Darkness were released, ATLUS disconnected itself and therefore, the song _The Invasion from Within by Tsunami Bomb_ did not appear in the remake._

Mao sat on his bed, head drenched in sweat.

"_Just a bad dream. Yeah…"_

But he smelled the air, and, to be safe, it did not smell right. He felt a wet spot on his bed…

Oh no, Mao thought. Not now.

He felt the mattress and his fears were realized; he, the Dean of Evil Academy, who had defeated Zetta, Baal and even Laharl did what a 3-year-old human child would do.

Mao had wet the bed.

Grunting in frustration, he threw his pillow and the ground and his shirt and jacket off the floor. His phone then ringed. Flipping it open, he saw it to be a message from his council buddies.

Sighing, he pressed CALL and held it to his ear.

"Yeah? I'm here… Oh, yeah, don't worry, I'll be there to, uh, what was it again?... Oh right, that rep from the Dark Board… What? No, no, I, I just had a bad dream. I'll be there in about an hour?... Yeah. Okay, bye."

He opened the door to his bathroom and stepped inside to wash himself up.

Later, Mao and Raspberyl were sitting face to face at their favorite coffee house, just going over the recent events of the day.

"So, how was your meeting?" Mao looked up from the floor and rubbed the back of his head.

"It was… interesting, to say the least." Beryl looked at him. Mao was… tired.

"Did you pull another all-nighter?"

Mao nodded. "Yeah… Um, I had several papers to fill out…"

Beryl shook her head. "You ever gonna try and request that raise from the higher-ups?"

Mao nodded. "Y-yeah. Soon, when I have enough mana."

Beryl scooped some sugar, poured it into Mao's coffee and stirred it. "Mao, you go out to those Level 3000 training classrooms nearly every day. You should have more than enough mana…"

Mao looked down at the floor, then back up to his girlfriend. "I use it to get more students at the academy…"

Beryl rolled her eyes. "That's good and all, but you really should get a raise soon."

Mao just sighed. "Is it okay if we change the subject, Beryl?"

Beryl nodded. "Sure… see, my mom's been pressuring me about how we're doing… she's trying to, I dunno… push me into marriage, I guess…"

Mao went wide-eyed. "Marriage? Oh boy…"

Beryl looked distant, but continued, unfazed.

"How long have we been together?"

Ever heard of 'space vision'? That's what Mao kinda felt right when she said that sentence.

"_Oh man… how long HAS it been? Um, we started at the anniversary of the academies founding…"_

Beryl brought him back to reality.

"Look, we'll talk about it tomorrow, okay? And try to get that raise soon… please?"

Mao nodded and waved good bye as he walked out the door and headed to his local bar; the Lost Lamb (parody of the Stray Sheep; you'll see a lot of references to CATHERINE in this fanfic. Sorry if they sound stupid.).

The TV blared as police took photos of what appeared to be a young male fighter, mouth opened wide, eyes rolled back. Obviously, any person or demon could see he was dead.

A reporter stood in front of a police line, speaking her thoughts on this mysterious death of a young man.

"_Once again, the mysterious plague that targets male demons, humans and angels only has claimed another victim. Darius*, age 26, was found dead this morning… (gibberish)_

The Lost Lamb was the newest addition to Evil Academy's grounds, and oddly enough, over the course of one night, became the local hangout for almost every student at the school.

The booths were the most popular because they had small TV's installed into the sides. Usually, it was used for watching tournament matches, and everyone would place bets on their favorite fighters, and the waitress at the bar, Selena*, was rushing from table to table collecting bets, handing them to the owner of the bar, or "Boss" as the frequent patrons called him, gathering drinks, delivering drinks and never once getting to take a break.

"_Yo! We need some drinks over here!"_

"_Bets to collect! Come on!"_

"_Dammit! Where the f**k is that woman!"_

Selena just grumbled and yelled back. "Coming!"

Meanwhile, in a nearby booth, Estark*, Topate* and Mao were watching the match. Actually, just the first two; Mao was looking at the screen just for the hell of it.

Estark started the conversation.

"Ye-ah! Right on! Hey, Mao, who do you think will win?"

Mao just sighed. "Are you kidding? Tournament matches in the local arena? I'd rather swallow hemlock! Est, you know I'm no good at this betting crap. So how would I know?"

Topate, who was also watching the match, took a puff of his cigar and leaned back. "So, how are things with Beryl?"

Mao looked up. "Well, her mothers been on her case lately… dunno why, though. She said something about marriage…"

Topa took another puff and looked down. "Can't say I'm right, but it seems to me… she wants you to tie the knot."

Mao looked wide-eyed again. "Wha-what! Topa, lemme get this straight- I'm not marriage material!"

Est rolled his eyes. "Well, let me ask you this; what do you think of her?"

Mao gave him an I'll-get-you-soon glance and sighed. "Well, she's my girlfriend and all, I mean… come on guys, I love her, but I don't think we should run to the cathedral and get married. 'It's like, we're stable where we are now."

Topa chimed in. "So what about her feelings then?"

Est nodded. "Yeah. 'She likes you Mao, and besides, I highly doubt you'd land someone like her again."

Mao looked back at Topa. "What about your girlfriend?"

Topa shrugged. "Well, I've decided I'll wait till I find my soul mate."

"And what if you don't find your 'soul mate?" Mao asked.

Topa glared at him. "Then I'll never get married. So what?"

The argument continued for a while until they decided to leave. Although Mao begged them to stay, the ignored him and walked off. Mao remained at his seat, drinking his cola and started to think until his cell rung in his pocket.

He picked it up and opened his messages; it was a text from Beryl.

Note: it's spaced wrong because it's read like a text; there's little room to type.

_Subject: About us…_

_To: Mao_

_From: Raspberyl_

_I was with some friends earlier,_

_and apparently, some of them already_

_have boyfriends; some are married!_

_Maybe it's time for us to get_

_out of our comfort zone, too._

Mao looked down and tapped the REPLY button on the screen.

Sighing and preparing himself he punched in a reply.

_Subject: RE: About us…_

_To: Raspberyl_

_From: Mao_

_Does it bother you?_

_I worry sometimes too._

_We can talk about it soon._

_Is that okay with you?_

_Be safe, okay?_

_-Mao_

Satisfied with his reply, he tapped SEND and the little envelope spun around a globe, signifying the message was sent.

Oddly enough, his inner self felt… different. He felt like he had SOME kind of obligation to Beryl, and that she did have a good point…

After a while, he received a reply.

He opened it up; Raspberyl was on to his location, and she was not happy!

_Subject: Wait a minute!_

_To: Mao_

_From: Raspberyl_

_You idiot! Are you at the Lost Lamb?_

_You have work tommorow, dammit!_

_(grumble)_

_Just don't get stupid, okay?  
><em>

Mao tapped reply, and halted; if he told the truth, Beryl might lecture him again, or maybe even scorch him. He could lie… but he had an obligation… what should he do?

He opened a new message and typed a reply.

_And that's the end of chapter 3! What should Mao send Raspberyl in his text? Should he lie, and say he's somewhere else? Or should he tell the truth and risk getting his hair lit on fire?_


	4. Realization and False Images

Well everyone, I'm back with very good news; the school year is almost done.

I just have one more day to go and I'm done with 9th grade, provided I did well on the finals.

Anyway, even though I've only received 3 votes on _Climbing the Tower, _I've decided to update, and Law came out in 2 votes. If this upsets you, I truly am sorry, but I want to try and update this story today.

But let's end the 'intro' here and just jump right in folks!

PS: Karanma Maeryl, the reason I rated this M is because the game Catherine is rated, well, M for sexual reference, nudity and heavy language, and I want to try and match this as close as possible. I hope this answers your question

Climbing the Tower

By Shunto

Mao thought hard about the reply. He could lie… but Beryl would find out anyway. He sighed and punched in his response. The envelope on his phone sealed itself and spun around the globe, and then turned off to go into sleep mode. Mao kept thinking over and over to himself. _"I have an obligation to her… but why marriage? I'm not sure about this anymore…"_ His phone rang again. Sighing in disbelief, he realized it was a phone call from Beryl, not a text message like the last two times. He pressed ANSWER and held it to his ear.

"Hey. What's up?" he said.

"_Don't 'what's up' me, Mao. I'm happy you told the truth, but you really shouldn't drink so much. I'm worried about you," _she said, _"and I don't want you to miss tomorrows meeting for the grounds expansion."_

Mao huffed. "Hey, I told you I wouldn't drink to much, okay? I promise, and the meeting tomorrow for anything in the world since we need more land."

Beryl sighed, and continued. _"Okay, I trust you. Anyway, regarding your reply to the first message… I'm scared about leaping to the next level like this. Where do you think our relation is going?"_

Mao smiled. "It's going great. I'm scared too, but we can do it together, right? Anyway-" he looked at the clock. "Aw fuck. It's getting late…"

Beryl laughed. _"Okay. Be safe on your way home, okay? Bye."_

Mao closed his eyes. "Good night, Beryl."

He turned his phone off and pulled out a check. Being the genius he is, it took less than 3 seconds to calculate the total of the drinks, which were two rums. He didn't even feel tipsy, much less eyes blurred. He wrote the check for 3680 HL and put it on the booth table, and waited for the owner to collect it.

That is when his life changed forever.

A blue haired beauty walked slowly to him and raised her hand to speak. "Umm… can I sit here?" Mao turned crimson red and nodded slowly. Sitting down, the two began to talk as Boss simply smiled.

Mao didn't know why he was walking, or even why he was awake. He just kept moving towards the bright doorway, oblivious to the fact that over forty sheep were walking with him.

As soon as he walked through, he opened his eyes and dropped his jaw. He was back at the damn tower from last night.

A voice, one that he didn't recognize, yelled down from high up.

"_Hey, you awake?"_

Mao climbed the first block to keep ahead of the falling tower. "Who are you? Why am I back here?"

The voice responded. _"I'm a victim of this hellhole, just like you."_

Mao climbed another block, but a sheep was trying to push a block to prevent him from advancing. "Fucking sheep! I can't die here!"

The voice yelled back down. _"Drop down to the block beneath you and shimmy on it!"_

Mao was dumbfounded. "Are you out of your mind!"

The voice sounded angrier this time. _"Fine. You want to die you bastard? Go ahead, but shimmying is the only way your gonna survive this. Do it or don't."_

Mao scoffed and shimmyed across, but the sheep tried to pull out a block to prevent his advancement.

It yelled down to him. "Drop dead, you bastard! I am not letting you live!"

Suddenly, another sheep leapt down and knocked the sheep down past Mao. "Come on, you idiot! Don't just wait there!"

Mao followed the lifesaving sheep and arrived at a golden platform. The sheep looked down and sighed. "Alright, we got like 10 minutes. By the way, I didn't catch your name." The sheep held out his hand, which, much to Mao's surprise looked exactly like a human hand. Mao held his arm out and shook the 'persons' hand. "My name's Mao." The sheep chuckled. "Nice to meet you, Mao. I'm Vincent. Vincent Brooks." Their introduction was cut short as the row of blocks just beneath them collapsed. "Fuck!" Vincent said. "Come on! Let's go to the landing!"

Mao didn't argue, which was a first, and followed Vincent to the platform and watched as his new friend pulled the rope, and much to his surprise, a row of blocks forming a staircase appeared. Mao climbed along with Vincent, and soon, he would realize everything was not as it should be.

And that's that! By the way, this is Vincent's third night in the dream world, so he's kinda used to it. Kinda, not entirely.

Hope you enjoyed, and I'll update Life and Labors in Love this weekend… or SUMMER VACATION! Which is NEXT TUESDAY! :D

Peace!


End file.
